


King of the Flowers

by norwegian_galaxies



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, M/M, denny is a little bit of a dork XD, just really soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-11-19 03:17:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18130244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/norwegian_galaxies/pseuds/norwegian_galaxies
Summary: Lukas loved flowers, and went to the flower shop every day because of his garden.But perhaps he'd started using that as an excuse to see the cute guy at the shop.





	King of the Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to write something cute, for these two's sake...  
> I've been hurting them too much lately ;-;

There was a slight chill in the air as Lukas walked down the street, though the sun shone brightly, full-force, above him.

Spring was announcing itself in a big way, he mused to himself, glancing up at the bright blue sky, looking away quickly since the blue started to hurt his eyes mere seconds later. The birds flittering above him seemed to laugh at his expense.

He would have stayed in bed if it weren't for these birds, the robins--the robins announced the coming of spring, and Lukas had memorized their beautiful fanfare a long while ago. He arose early, made coffee, and got out of the house as soon as he could, scribbling a quick note for his lillebror.

Spring cleaning was something Lukas only reserved for his garden, which was a tangled mess of brown, dry, dead plants and weeds during every month that wasn't claimed by spring or summer, months stolen away by Skadi, the frost giantess. On the first day of spring, he'd go to a flower shop after clearing his garden of these dead plants--the poor dears, he'd thought, plucking a dead leaf off of the ground and crunching the thing into bits in the palm of his hand. He loved flowers, but hated seeing them die. 

He'd knelt down in the dirt and plucked every twig, every sign of the plants that had resided there before, away. No gloves had adorned his hands, and dirt got under his nails. He didn't clean them and instead headed straight for the new store down the street.

After musing about the spring weather, he arrived at the shop and pushed open the door, a soft jingling bell announcing him.

He breathed in, smelling wood and dirt and the overwhelmingly sweet aroma of flowers. He sighed out, looking around the inside of the building; at the lawn ornaments, wildflower and vegetable seeds, at the marigolds in the flowerpot at the counter...

His breath hitched.

"Hi there!" The man behind the counter said, grinning widely and waving. "Can I help you with anything?"

Lukas found himself unable to answer that simple question and stared at the man instead of answering. He looked like a very energetic happy man to Lukas--his blonde hair was absolutely wild, sticking up and out in all directions. His eyes were blue like the sky, though somehow even brighter--a mischievous spark lit them. And his smile...oh, his smile was to die for. The Norwegian felt weak at the knees just looking at the man, whose name he discovered from a quick look at his nametag. 

Matthias Køhler.

"Um...you okay, sir?" Matthias asked, tilting his head at Lukas like a small puppy, his big blue eyes filled with concern and curiosity.

Lukas took a deep breath and pinched his arm so he would snap out of the daze he was in. "Ah…" he replied, running his dirty fingers in his hair, forgetting they were covered in soil. "Y-Yes." He walked over and stuck out his hand for Matthias to shake. "Lukas Bondevik," he said, awkwardly, not knowing why exactly he was introducing himself to a cashier. 

"Ja," Matthias responded slowly, giving him an odd look. "Hi, Lukas, I'm Matthias, but call me Mat...?" He shook Lukas' hand, his cheery grin melting into a confused smile. "Not quite sure what's going on, but...all right."

Lukas quickly pulled his hand away, his heart aching slightly at the wave of relief that passed over Matthias' face. "All right," he said, looking around the building. He noticed some daffodil bulbs and closed his eyes, imagining how his garden would look with daffodils. He always tried to change the plants in his yard every so often, and he'd never had daffodils. In his minds eye, daffodils--the white ones with the orange trumpeting centers, not the full yellow ones--would look great, backed by those purple...what were they called?

"Excuse me," Lukas asked, turning back to Matthias. "Purple hydrangeas...would they look all right with those daffodils?" He gestured to the picture above the daffodil bulbs, which showed off the kind of daffodils he liked.

Matthias shrugged, raising one of his thick, dark eyebrows. "Hm...do you think they would?" Lukas nodded, and Matthias gave him a thumbs-up. "Then that's your answer. 'M not here to tell ya what to do," the man chuckled, his accent thickening slightly. 

"Well, I'd certainly hope not," Lukas replied in monotone. He picked up several containers of bulbs and carried them over to the counter, setting the money on the counter.

"Wait," Matthias said, holding out a hand to stop Lukas. "Wait. We just started selling honey sticks, would you like a few? You look like the kind of person who would like them."

Lukas had noticed the honey sticks display when he walked in, but hadn't paid much mind to it. He looked back at the display, because he had been craving something sweet all morning, and read the labels. There were regular honey sticks, blueberry flavored, cinnamon flavored, and grape flavored. He selected one of each, much to Matthias' approval, and opened the plastic of the blueberry one, drinking some of the sweet honey out of the tube before paying for the sticks.

Matthias put the rest of the sticks, as well as the daffodil bulbs, inside a paper bag and handed it back to Lukas, flashing him another beaming smile. "Well," he said, running his fingers through his hair, pushing the strands out of his face. "It was nice doing business with you, Lukas. Hope your daffodil-hydrangea experiment goes well!"

The Norwegian smiled back; a small, very unnoticable smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Takk," he answered. "I'll let you know next time I see you..."

"Next time...?" Matthias questioned, smiling dumbly.

"Next time," Lukas confirmed, feeling his cheeks warm up. "I, ah-I'm working on my garden. I try to get new plants every year, and these daffodils are just the beginning."

The wild blonde nodded, showing interest, and smiled again. Lukas couldn't believe how much this man smiled, it seemed impossible. "That's cool!" he said, closing his eyes and nodding once more. "I look forward to hearing about it. I hope you have a nice day!"

"You too," Lukas said quietly, biting his lip and giving Matthias a small wave, picking up his bag and walking out the door, the bell that had greeted him earlier bidding him farewell as he walked away.

*

"Back again?" 

Lukas looked up to see Matthias outside the flower shop, sweeping off the porch. His white apron was hanging on the doorknob, as was a "Closed" sign. "Obviously," Lukas replied, frowning. He'd been coming to the shop for the past few days, buying flowers and getting to know the Dane. It turned out that Matthias had moved from Denmark just a few years back and had started working at the shop on the first unofficial day of spring. 

Matthias chuckled at Lukas' response. "Mm...well, sorry, Luka, but we're closed today." He set the broom down so that it leaned against the wall. "Ber's on his honeymoon. He and his husband are in Stockholm, and they said for me to take care of the plants and the building while they were gone." He frowned curiously. "Didn't I tell you that yesterday?"

Now that he thought about it, Lukas did remember Matthias mentioning something about a honeymoon the day before. He must have been distracted by something: counting the Dane's freckles, daydreaming, thinking of what to cook his lillebror for supper.

"You did," Lukas replied, biting his lip. "Guess I just came here out of habit, then." And he definitely hadn't come to see Matthias. Nope. A faint, very faint, blush dusted his cheeks and he lowered his eyes.

Matthias nodded. "Understandable." He picked up the broom again, holding it parallel to the ground in his arms, his face lighting up. "Hey, I'm almost done here! Wanna hang out?"

The question took Lukas by surprise, and he found himself speechless. Naturally, Matthias opened the door, threw the broom inside the building, and locked up. 

"Of course you do!" Matthias replied, skipping back over excitedly, not even caring that Lukas hadn't answered. "Let's go! You'll get to see my garden!"

Since the Dane was practically jumping up and down in circles around him (and he secretly really, REALLY wanted to spend more time with the man...child...) he submitted to Matthias, who cheered.

Lukas rolled his eyes and followed the Dane to the side of the building, where a red bike was parked. "Ehm..." Lukas looked at the thing doubtfully. "There's two of us."

"So?" Matthias laughed. "You can stand on those." He gestured to two bars that stuck out from the wheels. "Or..." he added, seeing Lukas' face falling further. He chewed on his lip, clearly not having another plan.

"Depending on how far away this place is, I could run." 

"Maybe a mile," the wild blonde replied. "Are you sure you're fine running that far? You're not exactly wearing running clothes." Lukas nodded, and Matthias sighed, mounting his bike and kicking the kickstand away. "I'll see you there, with plenty of water."

*

Another thing that came with spring: rain. Buckets of it.

Lukas watched from his window as the rain came down in torrents, pounding against the roof. He wasn't going to the shop today, that was for certain.

Popcorn popped in the microwave as he sat down on the couch next to his brother, who was fiddling with the TV remote, trying to change the source to "Movie" in the dark, pressing all the buttons except for the right one.

"Here," Lukas said, gesturing for the boy to hand it to him. Hesitantly, it was handed over, and Lukas pressed the change source button, the movie's menu almost immediately showing up onscreen.

"No fair," Emil grumbled, curling up into even more of a ball than before. Lukas could see his brother's flushed face even in the dark room. "You have the magic touch."

"Maybe." The microwave beeped, and the Norwegian stood from the couch, walking to the kitchen to get it.

He frowned and looked over at the counter. He'd stocked up on honey sticks the day before. He plucked a blueberry honey stick from the counter, cut off the top of the tiny package, and began to drink from it.

All throughout the movie, he was asleep. He had fallen asleep at the very beginning, lulled to sleep by the rain.

He dreamed of freckles and sky blue. 

'I love you, Matthias…I love you.'

*

He woke up hours later, and the TV was off. It was dark outside and inside. Emil must have gone upstairs a while before. 

Lukas did not remember his dream, but knew that he'd thought a thought that he regretted and wanted to lock away forever. 

*

The next day he came to the store for strawberries.

There was a different man at the counter that day. He had purple eyes and light blonde hair. He was very tall and big--not fat, but big. Lukas frowned, wondering where Matthias was.

"Hello!" the man at the counter said, smiling softly. "You're Luka, da?"

Lukas took a few tentative steps forward. "Ja, Lukas," he answered, raising his eyebrows. "Where's...?"

"Oh," the cashier who wasn't Matthias at all replied, frowning. "Uh...didn't he tell you?He doesn't work here anymore."

The Norwegian stared at the cashier for a moment, before immediately walking back out the door, the cheery sound of the bell not doing anything to help lift his spirits.

*

When Matthias answered his door, Lukas was about to walk down the front steps and force the Dane out of his head once and for all.

"Wait, wait, Luka!" Matthias cried, lunging forward and setting a heavy hand on his shoulder. Lukas turned to look and him and frowned. "It's so nice to see you!"

"You didn't tell me you quit," Lukas replied, crossing his arms, narrowing his indigo eyes. 

Matthias' smile immediately dropped, and he looked down at his feet. "I wanted to work somewhere else, is all," he mumbled. "I was waiting for an opening at the music store when I was working in the flower shop. I told you about that." When Lukas didn't reply, Matthias gently grabbed his wrist and tugged. "Why don't you come inside? I just made breakfast."

Smelling the wonderful aroma of strawberries and blueberries, syrup and waffles, Lukas stared at Matthias, knowing for certain that this wonderful breakfast being made wasn't coincidental in the slightest. "You planned this, didn't you," Lukas muttered, rolling his eyes. But Matthias just looked down at him with a smile on his face, that confused one that Lukas had been thrown on the first day they met. The Norwegian sighed and stepped inside the house, and the Dane followed, bouncing on his toes.

"You're too excited for this meal to be spontaneous, you know," Lukas deadpanned, as Matthias practically sprinted past him to the dining room table (which was set for two people, confirming Lukas' suspicions). "And you never said why you didn't tell me about switching jobs."

"What do you mean? I did tell you about it," the Dane chuckled, rolling his blue eyes. "Guess you must've been distracted~"

The Norwegian turned bright red and covered his face with his hands. "Oh, fuck you..."

Matthias didn't respond with anything other than a beaming white smile, his eyes squeezed shut. Lukas couldn't help but smile back, though his smile was obviously not as big as the wild blonde's.

A long moment was spent, the two of them just staring at each other, and it was clear that Matthias wasn't going to break the eye contact any time soon. 

At the same time, Lukas couldn't look away.

And within a moment, they were on each other.


End file.
